1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



459 



exhausts the vigor of the tfees, and cutsoflFthe 

 prospect of fruit. 



Si'iinkling the branches with fine ashes has 

 proved of great service in arresting the ravages of 

 these insects. 



The seeds of the plum, apple, potato, &c., will 

 not bring the same kind of fruit that they were 

 taken from. It is only by grafting the former, 

 and planting the potatoes, that we get the fruit we 

 desire. 



To kill the hark louse on apple trees, scrape 

 them, and then wa^h with strong soap suds. 



THE BUD "WORM IN APPLE TREES. 



Enclosed you will find some apple tree leaves 

 that Cuntain a kind of maggot. Will you pl( ase 

 to inform me through the c lumns of the New 

 Englvnd Farmer— which I regard as the fir- 

 mei's friend — what they are called, and what will 

 destroy them easier than to pick, i htm <ff by hand ? 

 My [rets are preti-y well c(;vered i y them. I no- 

 tice niai'y small, "slim black but^s, api) irentiy in 

 connection with them. James Pollard. 



Ludlow, Vt. June '21, 1869. 



Remarks. — The specimens of curled and eaten 

 leaves were duly received, with a black bug, but 

 we could find no caterpdlars. As we were not 

 able at once to answer our correspondent's in- 

 quiries satisfactorily, we have taken some time to 

 inquire and to hunt up the authorities on the sub- 

 ject. For several years we have noticed more or 

 less of the work on our own trees of some Insect 

 in the bud and on the first, leaves, but were igno- 

 rant of its name or history, nor have we been able 

 to find any description of it in our fruit books. 

 On consulting Mr. J. Breck and J. F. C. Hyde, of 

 this city, we learn that this insect has never been 

 very fully described, and until recently has not 

 done any material damage. This year, however, 

 it has been more numerous than ever, and it may 

 now well claim the notice of fjuit growers. The 

 only description to which either Mr. Breck or Mr. 

 Hyde cr.uld refer us was thac in Mr. Harris' book 

 on Insects Injurious to Vegetation. Proba'ily Mr. 

 Scudder will give a history of it in the volume he 

 is now prcparingon the Butterflies of New England. 



Under the general term of Leaf-rollers, Mr. 

 Harris describes two insects which prey on apple 

 trees soon after the buds open in the spring. One 

 "curls up and fastens together the small and ten- 

 der leaves that supply them both with shelter and 

 food; and in this way, they often do considerable 

 damage to the trees. These caterpillars are some- 

 times of a pale green color, with the head and the 

 top of the first ring brownish ; and sometimes the 

 whole body is brownish or dull flesh-red; they are 

 rough to the touch with minute warts, each of 

 which produces a very short hair, invisib'e to the 

 naked eye. They come to their full size towards 

 the middle of June, and then measure nearly or 

 quite half an inch in length. After this, they line 

 the inner surface of the curled leaves, composing 

 their nests, with a web of silk, and are then 

 changed to chrysalids of a dark brown color. 

 Towards the end of June, or early in July, the 



chrysalis pushes itself half way out of its nost, 

 and bursts opi n at the upper end, so that the mo h 

 n)ay ci.me out. It n.ay be called Loxolmnia Rosa- 

 ceana, or the oblique bandtd moth. The fore 

 wings of this moth are very much arched on th( ir 

 outer edge, and curve in the contrary direction at 

 the tip, like a little hook or short tail. They are 

 of a liph' cinnamon-brown co'or, crossed with lit- 

 tle wavy darki r brown line-, and wiih three broad 

 oblique dark t)rown lunds, whereof one covers the 

 base of the wing, and is oftentimes indistinct or 

 wanting, the second crosses the middle of the 

 wing, and the third, which is broad on the front 

 edge and narrow behind, is near the outer hind 

 margin of the wing. The hind wings are ochre- 

 yellow, with the folded part next to the body 

 blackish. It expands one inch or a little more. 



Li. tie cater] ilLirs of another species are some- 

 times found in Mi:y and June in the opi ning buds 

 and amoi g the ttnder leaves of the apple tree. 

 They live singly in the buds, the leaves of which 

 they fasten together and then devour. These cat- 

 erpillars are c/f a pale and dull brownish color, 

 warty and slightly downy like the foregoing kind, 

 with the head and the top of the first ring dark, 

 shining brown; and a dark brown spot appears 

 through the skin on the top of the eighth ring. 

 They generally come to their growth by the mid- 

 dle of June, and are changed to shining brown 

 chrysalids within the curled leaves, in a little web 

 of silk, wherewith their retreats are linea. The 

 chrvsalis has only one row cf prickles across the 

 rings of the back. The moths come out eaily in 

 July. They very closely resemble the European 

 Ptnthina comitana, and perhaps may be merely 

 a variety of it. The hejd and thorax are dark 

 ash-colored. The fore wings are of the same color 

 at each end, and grayish white in the middle, 

 mottkd with dark gray ; there are two small eye- 

 like spots on each of them ; one near the tip, con- 

 sisting of four lit lo Llatk marks, placed close to- 

 gether in a row, on a light brown ground, the inner 

 marks being long r than the others ; the second 

 eye-spot is near the inner hind angle, and is formed 

 by three minute black ^ pots, arranged in a triangle, 

 in the middle of which there is someiimes a black 

 dot. The hind wings are dusky brown. This 

 moth expands from one-half to six-tentbs of an 

 inch. It may be called Penthina ocxdana, the eye- 

 spotted Pcnthina. My attention was called to the 

 depredations of this bud-moth, and of the pre- 

 ceding species, by John Owen, Esq., of Cambridge, 

 by whom the mo;hs were raised from the cater- 

 pillars, and presented to me. 



It is difHcult at first to conceive how such in- 

 significant creatures can occasion so much mis- 

 chief as they are found to do. This seems to arise 

 from the number of the insects, and their mode of 

 attack, whereby the opening foliage is checked in 

 its growth or nipped in the bud. To pull off and 

 crush the withered cluster of leaves containing the 

 caterpillars or the chrysalids, is the only remedy 

 that occurs to me. It were to be wished that some 



